Apparatus for creating and managing navigation information in a rewritable recording medium

ABSTRACT

This invention provides a method for managing navigation data for a rewritable recording medium, which are referred to for control of recording, editing, and reproduction. This method enables access to each information table in the navigation data directly by referring to the start address, which is kept in the first information table in the navigation data. Management data, which are relevant to the data to be recorded to the rewritable recording medium and are created and written to the relevant information tables, are accessed directly based on the start addresses. When data on the recording medium are reproduced, the information tables which contain management data required for reproduction of the requested data are located directly by the start addresses. Subsequently, the data are read out from the rewritable recording medium and reproduced in reference to the management data.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/245,857 filed Feb. 8,1999, which application is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to rewritable recording media,and more particularly, to an efficient management method of navigationinformation on a rewritable recording medium which are referred to whendata on the recording medium are edited and reproduced or data arerecorded to the recording medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

Optical discs have come into wide use since the advent of compact disc(CD) and the demand for optical discs is expected to grow steadily withpopularization of digital versatile disc (DVD). Optical discs includeread-only discs such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, write-once discs such asCD-R and DVD-R, and rewritable discs such as CD-RW and DVD-RAM. Thespecification of DVD-RTRW, which is standard writing/reading format of arewritable disc, has not released yet and standardization for DVD-RTRWis in progress.

As rewritable optical discs like DVD-RAM are of immensely largecapacity, users may store a variety of data such as moving pictures,still pictures, audio data, and the like on a single recording medium.Each time a new data file is recorded on a rewritable recording medium,navigation information for locating the data file after the recording iscreated and recorded along with the data file on the recording medium.The recorded navigation information is referred to whenever the relevantdata file is accessed.

Navigation information regarding all data files stored on a recordingmedium is contained in a navigation data table as shown in FIG. 1, whichis recorded as a single data file on the recording medium. Accessing therecording medium entails loading the navigation data file into a memory,wherein the navigation data reside all the time. When recording a movingor still picture on the recording medium, the area in which the picturefile will be recorded is determined with reference to the navigationinformation. Recording a picture file always accompanies creatingmanagement information regarding the recorded picture file and updatingthe navigation data file to include the newly created managementinformation.

Navigation data pertaining to moving pictures comprise movie videoobject information (M _VOBI) and movie video object presentation orderinformation (movie Cell Information or simply CI). Suppose that a movingpicture file is composed of n movie video objects (M_VOBs), e.g.,M_VOB#1˜M_VOB#n as shown in FIG. 3. Since each M_VOB needs a M_VOBI anda CI, n M_VOBIs and n CIs are created in the same order that n M_VOBsare recorded. In FIG. 3, M_VOBI#1˜M_VOBI#n correspond to M_VOB#1˜M_VOB#nand C#3, . . . , C#k (shaded cells in the box labeled ORG_PGC)correspond to M_VOB#1˜M_VOB#n. The created M_VOBIs and CIs are stored inthe movie A/V file information table (M_AVFIT) and the original programchain information table (ORG_PGCIT) of the navigation data shown in FIG.1, respectively.

On the other hand, navigation data pertaining to still pictures comprisestill picture video object information (S_VOBI) and still picture videoobject presentation order information (still picture Cell Information orsimply CI). Suppose that a still picture file is composed of n stillpicture video objects (S_VOBs) S_VOB#1˜S_VOB#n as shown in FIG. 3. Sinceeach S_VOB needs a S_VOBI and a CI, n S_VOBIs and n CIs are created inthe same order that n S_VOBs are recorded. In FIG. 3, S_VOBI#1˜S_VOBI#ncorrespond to S_VOB#1˜S_VOB#n and C#1, C#2, C#4, . . . , C#(k−1) (notshaded Cells in the box labeled ORG_PGC) correspond to S_VOB#1˜S_VOB#n.The created S_VOBIs and CIs are stored in the still picture A/V fileinformation table (S_AVFIT) and the original program chain informationtable (ORG_PGCIT) of the navigation data shown in FIG. 1, respectively.

When the rewritable recording medium is accessed for reproduction, thenavigation data file is read out from the recording medium and loadedinto a memory. If reproduction of a moving picture (still picture) isrequested, M_VOBIs (S_VOBIs) and CIs relevant to the requested movingpicture file (still picture file) are read from the M_AVFIT (S_AVFIT)and ORG_PGCIT of the navigation data table, respectively. With referenceto the M_VOBIs (S_VOBIs) and CIs, the requested moving picture file(still picture file) can be located from the recording medium andreproduced.

The navigation data file is used in the same manner when a moving orstill picture files recorded on the recording medium is edited. If auser edits a play list of moving or still pictures to reproduce them ina preferred order, management data regarding the changed play list arecreated with reference to the navigation data loaded into the memory.The management data consist of a new series of CIs corresponding to theselected pictures, e.g., C#1′˜C#m′ of FIG. 3, which forms a user-definedPGC (UD_PGC) to be stored in the user-defined PGC information (UD_PGCI)of the UD_PGCIT shown in FIG. 1. UD_PGC#i is stored in UD_PGCI#i (i=1,2,. . . , n). If reproduction of the edited play list of the picture filesis requested, the UD_PGC stored in the UD_PGCI corresponding to therequested play list is read from the UD_PGCIT of the navigation data inthe memory. Then, the M_VOBIs and S_VOBIs corresponding to the CIs inthe UD_PGC can be read from the M_AVFIT and S_AVFIT. For example, inFIG. 3, S_VOBI#2˜S_VOBI#4, S_VOBI#7˜S_VOBI#8, . . . , M_VOBI#6˜M_VOBI#8are read out. Finally, the VOBs linked to the play list can be read outand the play list can be reproduced in reference to the VOBIs and CIs.

In the navigation data configured as above, video manager informationmanagement table (VMGI_MAT) comprises, as shown in FIG. 2, a videomanager identifier (VMG_ID) for representing a navigation data file; anaddress (RTRWI_EA) for specifying the end address of the navigation datatable which is represented by a relative logical block number from thebeginning of the table; an address (VGMI_EA) for specifying the endaddress of the video manager information (VGMI) which is represented bya relative byte number from the beginning of the VGMI; and a versionnumber (VERN) of the rewritable recording medium.

As shown in FIG. 1, each information table has an address field whichindicates the end address of the information table: M_AVFIT_EA in movieA/V file information table information (M_AVFITI) specifies the end ofM_AVFIT, S_AVFIT_EA in still picture A/V file information tableinformation (S_AVFITI) for S_AVFIT, ORG_PGCIT_EA in original PGCinformation table information (ORG_PGCITI) for ORG_PGCIT, UD_PGCI_EA inuser-defined PGC information table information (UD_PGCITI) for UD_PGCIT,TXT_DT_MG_EA in text data information (TXTDTI) for text data manager(TXT_DT_MG), and MNFIT_EA in manufacturer's information tableinformation (MNFINI) for manufacturer's information table (MNFIT).

For example, in order to access original PGC information (ORG_PGCI) ofthe navigation data of FIG. 1, first, the end address of VMGI, orVMGI_EA is read out from VMGI_MAT of VMGI. M_AVFIT is located inreference to the VMGI_EA because M_AVFIT is the next information tableof VMGI. Then, M_AVFIT_EA is read out from M_AVFITI of M_AVFIT. In thesame way, S_AVFIT_EA is obtained from S_AVFINI of S_AVFIT in referenceto the M_AV_FIT_EA, and then the ORG_PGCI is accessed by referencing thenext address of the S_AVFIT_EA.

Therefore, the navigation data file structure, where the end addressesfor the information tables such as VMGI_EA, M AVFIT_EA, S_AVFIT_EA,ORG_PGCIT_EA, UD_PGCIT_EA, TXT_DT_MG_EA, and MNFIT_EA are used forlocating, must be loaded on a memory in such a way that the informationtables such as VMGI, M_AVFIT, S_AVFIT, ORG_PGCIT, UD_PGCIT, TXT_DT_MG,and MNFIT are arranged contiguously in order to access each informationtable appropriately.

In addition, when some data, for example, moving pictures are written tothe rewritable recording medium, M_VOBI#i and C#i are generatedcorresponding to the M_VOB#i to be recorded newly and are then writtento M_AVFIT and ORG_PGCIT, respectively. Since the information tables ofthe navigation data are arranged on the memory contiguously, as shown inFIG. 4A, writing the generated M_VOBI#i into M_AVFIT requires thatinformation tables after the M_AVFIT be moved back by the size of theM_VOBI#i (shaded area in M_AVFIT in FIG. 4B), as shown in FIG. 4B. Afterwriting the M_VOBI#i is completed, the end addresses of the M_AVFIT andinformation tables thereafter are updated. Likewise, in order to writethe C#i into ORG_PGCIT, it is required that information tablespositioned after the ORG_PGCIT are moved back by the size of the C#i(shaded area in ORG_PGCIT in FIG. 4B). Writing the C#i into ORG_PGCIT isfollowed by updating the end addresses of ORG_PGCIT and informationtables thereafter. In other words, in the prior navigation data filestructure, it takes more reading-and-writing cycle of information tableson the memory to write management information, which are generated whendata are written to a rewritable recording medium, to the navigationdata. As a result, updating management data requires more time formemory operation.

Because, in the prior navigation data file structure, access to theinformation tables in the navigation data such as M_AVFIT, S_AVFIT,ORG_PGCIT, UD_PGCIT, TXT_DT_MG, and MNFIT is made through a series ofreferencing the end addresses of preceding information tables, theaccess time is rather long and thereby it may be a burden to real-timeoperation for writing/reproducing data to/from the rewritable recordingmedium.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide aneffective method of managing navigation data, which are referred to whendata on the recording medium are edited and reproduced, or data arerecorded to the recording medium, by offering a new navigation datastructure in which direct access to information tables in the navigationdata is enabled.

The method of managing the navigation data for the rewritable recordingmedium according to the present invention is characterized in that itcomprises steps of writing management information, which is asked to beupdated due to writing/editing data or change of presentation order, tothe relevant information tables in the navigation data; checking whetheror not the adjustment of positions of the information tables on thenavigation data is required to write the relevant managementinformation; and altering the start locations of the information tableswhose locations are to be adjusted, according to the examination result.

The management method of the navigation data according to the presentinvention is further characterized in that it comprises steps of loadingthe navigation data recorded on the rewritable recording medium onto amemory; generating management data depending on the data type and thetype of presentation control, when recording, reproduction, or editingis requested; reading the start address information of the informationtables, which are relevant to the generated management data, from thenavigation data on the memory; and writing the generated management datato an appropriate location of each of the relevant information tablesbased on the start address information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a table showing the navigation data file for managing datarecorded on a rewritable recording medium;

FIG. 2 is a table showing the prior configuration of the video managerinformation table (VGMI_MAT) shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram explaining the mechanism of creating andhandling management information in the navigation data file of FIG. 1during recording, editing, and reproduction of moving or still pictures.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are schematic diagrams illustrating the process ofwriting video object information and video object presentation orderinformation, which are created by writing of the data to the rewritablerecording medium, to information tables in the navigation data file ofthe prior art;

FIG. 5 is a configuration of the video manager information table(VMGI_MAT) according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the process of writing videoobject information and video object presentation order information toinformation tables of the navigation data file having a structureaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an optical disc recording/reproductionapparatus embodying the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flow chart depicting a management method of the navigationdata for a rewritable recording medium according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described indetail referring to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of the VMGI_MAT of the navigation filestructure for a rewritable recording medium in accordance with thepresent invention. The VMGI_MAT differs from the prior VMGI_MAT of FIG.2 in that, besides VMG_ID, RTRWI_EA, VMGI_EA, and VERN, it furtherincludes an additional field, OTBL_SA where start addresses of theinformation tables except VMGI_MAT, i.e., M_AVFIT, S_AVFIT, ORG_PGCIT,UD_PGCIT, TXT_DT_MG, and MNFIT are stored. The start addresses aredenoted by M_AVFIT_SA (for M_AVFIT), S_AVFIT_SA (for S_AVFIT),ORG_PGCIT_SA (for ORG_PGCIT), UD_PGCIT_SA (for UD_PGCIT), TXT_DT_MG_SA(for TXT_DT_MG), and MNFIT_SA (for MNFIT), respectively. Each startaddress may be represented by a relative byte number from the beginningof the navigation data table of FIG. 1.

In the navigation data file configured as above, each information tablecan be accessed by only reading out its own start address from theOTBL_SA of the first information table or VMGI_MAT, and referencing theaddress.

Thus, each information table need not to be arranged contiguously on thememory or the recording medium, as in the prior navigation datastructure. For example, the start addresses kept in the OTBL_SA ofVMGI_MAT can be chosen such that the information tables in thenavigation data are arranged apart to each other with a predeterminedspacing (shaded area in each information table of FIG. 6), as shown inFIG. 6. In this case, it is possible to write data into one or more ofthe information tables without moving back the information tablesthereafter in order to make sufficient area for the data. The navigationdata structure according to the present invention includes the priornavigation data structure. That is, the start addresses may be set suchthat the information tables are positioned contiguously, where whenwriting data into information table(s) in the navigation data, it isinevitable to move back the information tables which follows theinformation table(s), as in the prior navigation data structure. In thecase, however, it requires no manipulation of the end addresses of thepreceding information tables to access the information tables to bemoved.

The player comprises an optical pickup 10 for writing/readinginformation to/from an optical recording medium; an analog signalprocessing unit 20 for filtering and digitizing high-frequency analogsignals reproduced from the recording medium and converting digital datato be recorded on the recording medium into analog signals; a digitalsignal processing unit 30 for decoding and encoding digital data andyielding a control signal for data synchronism; an A/V data processingunit 40 for decoding audio/video input data, hereinafter referred tosimply as A/V data and encoding audio/video input signals into A/V data;a control unit 50 for controlling general operation of the player inresponse to a user's requests; and a plurality of memories M1, M2, andM3 for storing temporary data created in each signal processing step.The navigation data file is loaded into the memory M1.

When recording a moving or still picture on the recording medium in theplayer of FIG. 7, first, the control unit 50 loads the navigation datafile recorded on the recording medium into the memory M1. Referring tothe loaded navigation data, the control unit 50 records the picture dataon the recording medium, creates management information composed ofM_VOBIs or S_VOBIs and CIs corresponding to the VOBs forming the picturefile, and writing the management information into the navigation data onthe memory M1.

To be specific, in case where moving pictures are written to therecording medium, the control unit 50 generates a series of M_VOBIs,i.e., M_VOBI#1˜M_VOBI#n in FIG. 3, corresponding to a series of M_VOBsto be written, i.e., M_VOB#1˜M_VOB#n in FIG. 3. Then, the control unit50 reads out the start address of M_AVFIT, or M_AVFIT_SA from VMGI_MATof VMGI in the navigation data, and then writes the generated M_VOBIssequentially into M_AVFI of M AVFIT which is accessed in reference tothe M_AVFIT_SA. And, a series of CIs, i.e., C#3, . . . , C#k in FIG. 3,each corresponding to each of the M_VOB#i, is generated by the controlunit 50. ORG_PGCIT is accessed by reading the start address of ORG_PGCITor ORG_PGCIT_SA from VMGI_MAT, and then the series of CIs is writtensequentially into ORG_PGCI of the ORG_PGCIT.

The procedure for writing still pictures to the recording medium issimilar to that for writing moving pictures. The control unit 50generates a series of S_VOBIs, i.e., S_VOBI#1˜S_VOBI#n in FIG. 3,corresponding to the series of S_VOBs to be written, i.e.,S_VOB#1˜S_VOB#n in FIG. 3. Then, the control unit 50 reads out the startaddress of S_AVFIT, or S_AVFIT_SA from the VMGI_MAT of VMGI in thenavigation data, and then writes the generated S_VOBIs sequentially intoS_AVFI of S_AVFIT which is accessed in reference to the S_AVFIT_SA. And,a series of CIs, i.e., C#1, C#2, . . . , C#(k−1) in FIG. 3, eachcorresponding to each of the S_VOB#i, is generated by the control unit50. ORG_PGCIT is accessed by using the start address of ORG_PGCIT orORG_PGCIT_SA which is kept in VMGI_MAT, and then the series of CIs iswritten sequentially into ORG_PGCI of the ORG_PGCIT.

When writing moving or still pictures to the recording medium, it isnecessary that the control unit 50 checks whether or not informationtables related to the moving or still pictures have their own reservedwriting area enough to contain the corresponding management information.This is because, even though each information table can have its ownsome reserved area initially in the navigation data structure, as shownin FIG. 6, the reserved areas become insufficient as the amount ofmanagement information gets large. For every information table whosereserved area is determined to be insufficient, all information tablesafter the information table are moved back sequentially on the memory bya predetermined amount, and then the generated management information iswritten to the newly expanded writing area of the information table. Inaddition, because the start addresses of the moved information tableschange, corresponding start addresses kept in the OTBL_SA field inVMGI_MAT of VMGI are altered.

When reproduction of moving pictures (or still pictures) recorded on therecording medium is requested, the navigation data file on the recordingmedium is, first, loaded onto the memory M1. The control unit 50accesses ORG_PGCIT by obtaining the start address of ORG_PGCIT, orORG_PGCIT_SA from VMGI_MAT in the loaded navigation data, and then readsout the presentation order information corresponding to the requestedVOBs from ORG_PGCI sequentially, i.e., C#1˜C#k in FIG. 3. At the sametime, M_VOBIs (or S_VOBIs) corresponding to the presentation orderinformation are read out sequentially from M_AVFI (or S_AVFI) in thenavigation data after accessing M_AVFIT (or S_AVFIT) by using M_AVFIT_SA(or S_AVFIT_SA) stored in VMGI_MAT. Then, the control unit 50 searchesfor the requested moving picture (or still picture) on the recordingmedium and then reproduces them in reference to the CIs and the M_VOBIs(or S_VOBIs).

On the other hand, in case where editing the presentation order ofmoving pictures (or still pictures) on the recording medium is asked,the navigation data file on the recording medium is loaded onto thememory M1. According to the user's editing of the presentation order ofthe M_VOBs (or S_VOBs) recorded on the recording medium, the controlunit 50 creates a series of CIs representing the new presentation orderof the M_VOBs (or S_VOBs), e.g., C#1′˜C#m′ shown in FIG. 3. Then, thecontrol unit 50 accesses UD_PGCIT by referencing the start address ofUD_PGCIT, or UD_PGCIT_SA and writes the new series of the CIs intoUD_PGCI of UD_PGCIT. The generated CIs composes a user-defined programchain information (UD_PGC), or a play list, which represents areproduction order of the relevant M_VOBs (or S_VOBs).

When reproduction is requested according to the edited play list afterediting the presentation order, first, the start address of UD_PGCIT orUD_PGCIT_SA which is read out from VMGI_MAT of the navigation dataloaded on the memory M1 is used to access the UD_PGCIT, and then the CIscorresponding to the requested play list, i.e., C#1′˜C#m′ in FIG. 3 isread out from the UD_PGCI of the UD_PGCIT. And, S_AVFIT and M_AVFIT areaccessed in reference to S_AVFIT_SA and M_AVFIT_SA stored in VMGI_MAT,respectively. Then, the VOBs corresponding to the CIs, i.e.,S_VOBI#2˜S_VOBI#4, S-VOB#7˜S_VOB#8, . . . , M_VOBI#6˜M_VOBI#8 shown inFIG. 3, are read out sequentially from the S_AVFI and M_AVFI. Based onthe CIs and VOBIs, the VOBs corresponding to the requested play list areread out from the recording medium and then reproduced.

The method of managing the navigation data for the rewritable recordingmedium according to the present invention is described below in detailwith reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 8.

If a rewritable recording medium is loaded into the player, the controlunit 50 reads the navigation data file from the recording medium andstores the file in the memory M1 (S11). Then, the control unit 50examines whether or not writing moving or still pictures is requested bya user, i.e., recording mode is set (S13). When it is determined thatthe player is in the recording mode, the control unit 50 beginsexecution of a writing control routine, and creates management datacorresponding to the data which are written to the recording medium(S15). The VOBIs and CIs compose the management data when moving orstill pictures are written to the recording medium. Then, the controlunit 50 reads out the start addresses of the information tables, whichare relevant to the generated management data, from VMGI_MAT in thenavigation data loaded on the memory M1 (S17). For example, if themanagement data are M_VOBI and CI, M_AVFIT_SA and ORG_PGCIT_SA are readout.

Then the control unit 50 accesses the relevant information tables in thenavigation data table by using the start addresses obtained in the stepof S17 and then writes the generated management data into theinformation tables (S19). For example, in case of writing movingpictures to the recording medium, M_AVFIT is accessed by usingM_AVFIT_SA and then the relevant M_VOBI is written to M_AVFI of theM_AVFIT. Also, ORG_PGCIT is accessed by ORG_PGCIT_SA and then CI iswritten to ORG_PGCI of the ORG_PGCIT.

Once the writing management data into the navigation data is completed,the control unit 50 examines whether to end the recording mode (S21). Ifnot, the above writing process S15 through S19 is repeated. On the otherhand, when the recording mode is determined to end, the control unit 50reads the navigation data contained in the memory M1 and writes thenavigation data to the recording medium (S23), thereby completing thewriting control routine.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the step of S13 that therecording mode is not set, the control unit 50 examines whether thereproduction mode is set or not (S25). If the player is in thereproduction mode, the start addresses of the information tables whichare relevant to the data to be asked for reproduction are read out fromthe navigation data on the memory M1 (S27). By referencing the startaddresses, the relevant information tables are accessed and then themanagement data corresponding to the requested data on the recordingmedium are extracted from the information tables (S29). For example, ifreproduction of moving pictures is requested in a presentation order oforiginal PGC, M_AVFIT_SA and ORG_PGCIT_SA are read out from VMGI_MAT ofthe navigation data, and then M_VOBI and CI are extracted the twoinformation tables or M_AVFIT and ORG_PGCIT.

Then, the control unit 50 executes a control routine for reading out andreproducing the data recorded on the recording medium (S31). The controlunit 50 examines whether or not the reproduction mode ends (S33). Ifnot, the above reproduction process S27 through S31 is repeated. On theother hand, when it is determined that the reproduction mode ends, thecontrol unit 50 executes the step of S23, in which the navigation datacontained in the memory M1 are written to the recording medium, in orderto preserve management data in the navigation data which may have beenchanged by editing data and/or changing presentation order in thereproduction mode, thereby completing the control routine.

Although it is primarily described in detail in the foregoing embodimentthat information tables on the navigation data such as M_AVFIT, S_AVFIT,ORG_PGCIT, and UD_PGCIT are directly accessed by using the startaddresses in VMGI_MAT of the navigation data, other information tablessuch as TXT_DT_MG and MNFIT can be accessed directly in the same waywith their own start addresses such as TXT_MT_MG_SA and MNFIT_SA,respectively.

The management method of the navigation data for a rewritable recordingmedium according to the present invention provides a fast way ofaccessing each information table on the navigation data table comparedto the prior art method, contributing to the real-time reproduction orwriting operation. The present invention also enables to locate eachinformation table of the navigation data table due to keeping its ownstart address, even if the information tables are not arrangedcontiguously on the memory or the recording medium. Furthermore, insteadof loading all of the information tables of the navigation data tableonto the memory, as in the prior art method, the present invention makesit possible to selectively load the information tables which arecurrently needed for the requested operation onto the memory, yieldinghigh efficient use of the memory. In this case, each time new operation,reproduction or writing, is requested, it is checked that theinformation tables relevant to the requested operation are differentfrom the information tables which have been loaded on the memory. It ispreferred that the information tables are loaded on the memory only whenthey are different.

The foregoing is provided only for the purpose of illustration andexplanation of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, sochanges, variations and modifications may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A recording apparatus for use with a rewritablerecording medium to record data thereon, the apparatus comprising: meansfor recording user data onto at least one data area of the rewritablerecording medium; and means for recording a navigation data table onto anavigation data area of the rewritable recording medium, the navigationdata table referencing a plurality of navigation information recorded inthe navigation data area, at least one of the plurality of navigationinformation being associated with the user data recorded in the dataarea and at least one of the plurality of navigation information beingassociated with presentation control information wherein the navigationdata table includes start address information associated with at leastone of the plurality of navigation information; means for checkingwhether a start address of at least one of the plurality of navigationinformation has been changed; and means for altering the start addressinformation in the navigation data table in response to the change inthe start address of at least one of the plurality of navigationinformation.
 2. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein thenavigation data table is recorded as a single file.
 3. A recordingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of navigationinformation recorded in the navigation data area includes a movingpicture information table.
 4. A recording apparatus according to claim3, wherein the plurality of navigation information recorded in thenavigation data area further includes a still picture information table.5. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the presentationcontrol information recorded in the plurality of navigation informationcomprises: a sequential presentation information table containingmanagement information for reproducing data in a recording order; and aprescribed-order presentation information table containing managementinformation for reproducing data in a user-defined order.
 6. A recordingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the start addressinformation of the navigation data table is represented by a relativepositional information from the beginning of the navigation data table.7. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the start addressinformation of the navigation data table includes a start address of atext data manager information table.
 8. A recording apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the start address information of the navigation datatable includes a start address of a manufacturer's information table. 9.A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality ofnavigation information comprises: a moving AV file information table; astill picture AV file information table; a sequential presentationinformation table; and a prescribed-order presentation informationtable.
 10. A recording apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the startaddress information of the navigation data table includes startaddresses of the moving AV file information table, the still picture AVfile information table, the sequential presentation information table,and the prescribed-order presentation information table.
 11. Arewritable recording medium comprising: at least one data area to recorduser data; and a navigation data area to record a navigation data tablecontaining a plurality of navigation information, at least one of theplurality of navigation information being associated with the user datarecorded in the data area and at least one of the plurality ofnavigation information being associated with presentation controlinformation, wherein the navigation data table includes start addressinformation associated with at least one of the plurality of navigationinformation and the start address information being updated during atleast one of recording and editing operation when determined that arecording location of at least one of the plurality of navigationinformation has been altered.
 12. A rewritable recording mediumaccording to claim 11, wherein the navigation data table is recorded asa single file.
 13. A rewritable recording medium according to claim 11,wherein the plurality of navigation information recorded in thenavigation data area includes a moving picture information table.
 14. Arewritable recording medium according to claim 13, wherein the pluralityof navigation information recorded in the navigation data area furtherincludes a still picture information table.
 15. A rewritable recordingmedium according to claim 11, wherein the presentation controlinformation recorded in the plurality of navigation informationcomprises: a sequential presentation information table containingmanagement information for reproducing data in a recording order; and aprescribed-order presentation information table containing managementinformation for reproducing data in a user-defined order.
 16. Arewritable recording medium according to claim 11, wherein each of thestart address information of the navigation data table is represented bya relative positional information from the beginning of the navigationdata table.
 17. A rewritable recording medium according to claim 11,wherein the start address information of the navigation data tableincludes a start address of a text data manager information table.
 18. Arewritable recording medium according to claim 11, wherein the startaddress information of the navigation data table includes a startaddress of a manufacturer's information table.
 19. A rewritablerecording medium according to claim 11, wherein the plurality ofnavigation information comprises: a moving AV file information table; astill picture AV file information table; a sequential presentationinformation table; and a prescribed-order presentation informationtable.
 20. A rewritable recording medium according to claim 19, whereinthe start address information of the navigation data table includesstart addresses of the moving AV file information table, the stillpicture AV file information table, the sequential presentationinformation table, and the prescribed-order presentation informationtable.
 21. A recording apparatus for use with a rewritable recordingmedium to record user data thereon, the apparatus comprising: a signalpick-up unit to record information onto the rewritable recording medium;an analog signal processor to produce analog signal from digitize data;a digital signal processor to provide the digitized data to the analogsignal processor; a control unit to record the user data onto at leastone data area of the rewritabie recording medium, wherein the controlunit records a navigation data table onto a navigation data area of therewritable recording medium, the navigation data table referencing aplurality of navigation information recorded onto the navigation dataarea, at least one of the plurality of navigation information beingassociated with the user data recorded in the data area and at least oneof the plurality of navigation information being associated withpresentation control information, wherein the navigation data tableincludes start address information associated with at least one of theplurality of navigation information, and wherein the control unit checkswhether a start address of at least one of the plurality of navigationinformation has been changed and alters the start address information inthe navigation data table in response to the change in the start addressof at least one of the plurality of navigation information.
 22. Arecording apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the navigation datatable is recorded as a single file.
 23. A recording apparatus accordingto claim 21, wherein the plurality of navigation information recorded inthe navigation data area includes a moving picture information table.24. A recording apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the pluralityof navigation information recorded in the navigation data area furtherincludes a still picture information table.
 25. A recording apparatusaccording to claim 21, wherein the presentation control informationrecorded in the plurality of navigation information comprises: asequential presentation information table containing managementinformation for reproducing data in a recording order; and aprescribed-order presentation information table containing managementinformation for reproducing data in a user-defined order.
 26. Arecording apparatus according to claim 21, wherein each of the startaddress information of the navigation data table is represented by arelative positional information from the beginning of the navigationdata table.